The Microwave Orphans
The Microwave Orphans were a Kings Park based punk band who formed in 1995 and broke up in 2002 and have played 3 reunion shows in 2003, 2004 and 2009. Biography: In The Begining: ''' After the disintegration of thier previous band Janeless, Matt Roren and Ian Smith decided to start a new punk band. While looking for a drummer Ian suggested Jason Deford (Whom he didn't know was Matt's cousin, and whom Matt didn't know played drums) and so Flanders was born. The original line up of Flanders consisted of Matt on bass and vocals, Ian on guitar and Jason on drums, they then added Tom Stevenson (former Janeless frontman) on guitar. A short while later Tom left and Matt realized he could barely play bass let alone do that and sing at the same time so he recruited Jay Foley a goth kid from his science class to play bass. They jammed on songs in the basement Including the Flipper song "Ever " and The Penguins' "Earth Angel". Jay booked the band on their first show at The Old First Church in Huntington, the rest of the band started freaking out about playing a show they clearly weren't ready for They decided they were going to ditch Jay and secretly replace him with Nick Bifulci bassist of Matt's former band Gonorrhea. They played the show not telling Jay he was out, the angry/upset message he left Matt starts off the first Demo DEMON. This would also be the only time they would play under the name Flanders they changed it due to another band with the same name. They played a battle of the bands at Kings Park High School under the name Johnny Indecisive and The Not-Gonna Make It's (where they performed their song Backpack as well as a cover of Matt's former band Pee-Soup 's song "What?! ") and then a show in the basement of Sedition's drummer Schadi under the name The Fantastic Disasters. As The Fantastic Disasters they recruited former Janeless guitarist Steve Granado he played with them for a couple months but left before their next show, they did record a few tracks with him that would later appear on Rubber Chicken Studios Memorial Compilation. '''The Microwave Orphans are born: After Steve's departure they decided on the name The Microwave Orphans and had begun building their reputation, Matt would go to any and every show he could promoting them with homemade stickers and the DEMON cassette. Part of his main focus was trying to infiltrate all the different scenes he was was seeing including the Port Jefferson /TVR (Traffic Violation Records) crew which consisted of The Striped Basstards, Splurge, Checkerboard Charlie, The Howards and The Disenchanted who had dubbed him "The Weird Kid" thinking he was much younger then them...when in fact he was even older then some of them. Finally their next show in the summer of 96 in Matt's backyard they played their first show as The Microwave Orphans (this was also to be Nick's last show with the band). In late 1996 they recruited Ex-SuperMatchBoxx guitarist/singer Jay Porta (who had just been ousted from SMB) as their new bassist. They started getting a lot of shows on a couple occasions Jay wasn't able to make it, The first time was at a show at Dr. Shays In Lindenhurst, where George Mcredmond of The Embarrassing Rex filled in, video footage exisists of them teaching him the songs in the parking lot. The second incident was at a show at Massapequa Bowl where Andre Bermudez of Freaks From The Apocalypse would fill in for the first time. Enter Matt Dallow: While attending a video production class at Wilson Tech, Matt met Matt Dallow, who was in the advertising arts class next door (Which also included future Taking Back Sunday singer Antonio Longo, and future 48 in The Basement guitarist Dan Holmstrom, Orphan's drummer Jason Deford and Jen Litsch (AKA Happy Girl) were in the class before.) A classmate of Matt's had told him there was a kid on his bus that he would get along with, he introduced the two Matt's to each other. Matt Dallow had a crazy mushroom cloud of hair and a backpack that had a Sex Pistols patch, a plastic wrench and a toy squirrel hanging off of it. He then asked Roren if he would like to buy a Freaks From The Apocalypse demo, to which he replied "i put that out they're on my label", Dallow rebutted "ok then would you like to buy a button", Roren said yes, and so started their friendship. They began to hang out outside of school talking about music they both loved from The Beatles to DEVO to Subhumans to Danny Elfman scores and Dallow mentioned he played guitar, Roren had wanted another guitarist for the band since Granado's departure and asked him if he would like to join the band. Dallow said yes, but warned Roren that he wasn't very good, which he would soon find out was far from the truth. Roren went home and called the rest of the band to let them know they had a new guitarist, but when he called Jay Porta, Jay told him he couldn't be in the band anymore, it was too hard for him to get rides to come out to practice and shows, and so in the same day they found another guitarist and lost yet another bassist. To replace Jay they got Ian Atchinson (also of SuperMatchBoxx) to play bass. The band was getting really creative, Dallow's song were like nothing else being done, his songs sounded like video game surf rock, that, mixed with Smith's blend of punk, ska, hardcore and indie rock layed the groundwork that would be what the Orphans are remembered for. They took promo photos, made buttons and prepared themselves to record their next release. Andre had asked them if they would like him to record their next demo at his school SUNY Purchase, they of course agreed, they just needed a way to get their so the asked the only person they knew with a vehicle big enough to carry the band and their and equiptment; Andre's bandmate in Freaks From The Apocalypse (and future bandmate of both Matt's in The Repercussions), Nick Berlingieri. They planned the trip to Purchase, but Ian Atchinson's mom would not let Ian go with. Since Andre knew most of the songs from filling in and Smith and Dallow had no problem playing the newer songs on bass, it didn't phase them and they went up and belted out 11 songs in that day. This would be their 2nd demo Andre and with it's release they would once again be looking for another bassist. Hello Soccer Mom: After 3 months of Ian Smith and Andre filling in on bass, they recruited a classmate of Deford and Rorens; Paul Como known as soccer mom (because he was the only one who drove at the time and would drive the band around in a white minivan). After 2 years the band would finally have a stable line up well for atleast a little while. With a new found stability writing new songs was a priority and just like when Dallow had joined the band, they experimented with their style some more, this time incorporating keyboards into their sound (which they had experimented with briefly already at a party in Matt Roren's living room with Mark Ciani - Keyboardist of Freaks From The Apocalypse). Dallow had been playing keyboards in a new band with Andre called Space Robot Scientists and had written keyboard parts for 2 of the new songs Busted Amps and Broken Strings and Shattered Window as well as opening shows with John Williams ' The Imperial March while Matt Roren would come out dressed as Darth Vader . This line up played for about a year before heading into the studio to record Young and Abrasive their split CD EP with 48 in The Basement, during the sessions they wanted to have Dallow focus more on keyboards pretty much against his will, so they brought in another guitarist Ian's friend Mike Conlin, who had already filled in for Dallow live once before. After a few months with this line up, Paul had enough with Ian and Mike and quit the band. Within the next couple of weeks Mike left to start a new band Center of Zero. The band would resort back to it's four member line up with Ian on bass and Dallow on guitar. The end of the century would see newest member Chris Jackson, take on the role of bass player. Microwave Orphans : The Next Generation The year 2000 brought in the first of two major key players in the rest of The Orphans career, guitarist Dave Harrison , who came in right after the break up of his previous band The Teenage Supplicants. He had started working at Tower Records with Roren and was then asked to join. Dave played with a much grittier punk and garage rock style, shortly after his recruitment Chris Jackson was out on bass and Andrew Jones was in. This would be the ultimate Microwave Orphans line up. They started writing songs for their new EP While You Were Out Being Straight Edge... Dave and Andrew switched instruments and they went to record with Jeff Tiu of The Backup Plan. During the recording of the EP they started planning their first tour, not wanting to go on tour Matt Dallow quit the band. So they set out on tour sans Dallow with their new EP playing a few dates in Upstate NY Ohio, Indiana, and Virginia with Latterman, On The Might of Princes and The Insurgent which was all shot for the DIY documentary Between Resistance & Community: The Long Island DIY Punk Scene (Which pretty much completely excludes The Orphans from the tour). Then In The End: When they returned back home Andrew left the band to play bass for The Backup Plan. Dallow came back on saying he wasn't "in the band", but came to practice, played shows and would go on to record for what was going to be their first full length. So Matt Roren, Ian Smith, Jason Deford, Dave Harrison and Matt Dallow went back to Paris Studios where they had recorded Young and Abrasive three years before, after laying down the instrumental tracks for this record, the band paid the $607 for the session that day, took a rough mix on a cassette and left, Completely unsatisfied with the recording they would never return to finish it. After the dissapointment of the failed recording Ian Smith decided he was going to leave the band after 6 years. To replace Ian and Andrew they brought in two very different guitarists, metal guitarist Mitch Grafstein who had played with Freaks From The Apocalypse in their early days and "Ren" Rinaldo Morelli who had played with Dave in The Starliners and was also now in 48 In The Basement. Thier first show back Ian Smith showed up and played with the band even on songs he had never even heard before. They only played a few shows with this line up without Ren who could never get off work for the shows. Things were just not feeling right. Matt and Jason were not agreeing on where the band was going so Jason suggested they just break up. So they set up a farewell show at The Local 7 and did it up like a funeral there was a coffin, flowers, pallbarers and a even a preacher. They put together a CD The Microwave Orphans Anthology which had all thier released material from DEMON to While You Were Out Being Straight Edge... including some compilation only tracks, outtakes and a demo of a song they had worked on before their final recording. The Afterlife: In the coming year the last last up of The Orphans would start a new band minus Jason, Along with Matt Roren, Dave Harrison, Matt Dallow, Mitch Grafstein was thier friend and one time fill in drummer Nick Berlingieri. This band was known as The Repercussions. A year after their break up in 2002 The Microwave Orphans reunited for a show at Cedar Beach the line up being that of The Repercussions with Jason back on drums. Then in 2004 at Saints and Sinners in Smithtown they would reunite again this line up would consist of the 2 Matts, Dave Harrison, Andrew Jones and on bass Sean Corkery (Mitch's replacement in The Repercussions). Jason then moved to Australia so the next time they would play together as a band was in december of 2009 at Mr Beerys in Bethpage, when Jason had come back to Long Island after getting married. The line up for this show was the 2 Matts, Dave Harrison, Andrew Jones and Paul Como on bass. Hopefully that won't be the last we see of them and maybe one of these days the lost gem the infamous $607 tape will be released. Members: ''' *Matt Roren : Vocals/Bass (1995-2009) *Ian Smith : Guitar/Bass (1995-2002) *Jason Deford : Drums (1995-2009) *Tom Stevenson : Guitar (1995) *Jay Foley : Bass (1995-1996) *Nick Bifulci : Bass (1996) *Steve Granado : Guitar (1996) *Jay Porta : Bass (1996-1997) *Andre Bermudez : Bass/Guitar/Vocals (Also played Bass on and recorded the demo Andre) (1997) *Matt Dallow : Guitar/Bass/Keyboards (1997-2009) *Ian Atchinson : Bass (1997) *Paul Como : Bass/Guitar/Keyboard (1997-1999, 2009) *Mike Conlin : Guitar (1998-1999) *Paul Laino : Bass/Drums (1998-1999) *Chris Jackson : Bass (1999-2000) *Dave Harrison : Guitar/Bass (2000-2009) *Andrew Jones : Bass/Guitar (2000-2001, 2004-2009) *Mitch Grafstein : Guitar (2002-2003) *Rinaldo Morelli : Guitar (2002) '''Honorable Mention (People who played for a show or two) *George Mcredmond : Bass (1997) *Mark Ciani : Keyboard (1997) *Nick Berlingieri - Drums (Microwave Orphans Friends and Family Show at Q-Zar 1998) *Mike Clementi - Guitar (Microwave Orphans Friends and Family Show at Q-Zar 1998) *Ian Nihilate - Bass (Microwave Orphans Friends and Family Show at Q-Zar 1998) *Bob Ciani - Vocals (Microwave Orphans Friends and Family Show at Q-Zar 1998) *Sean Corkery - Bass (Reunion Show 2004) Discography: *DEMON (Eiffel Trousers Records Cassette 1996) *Andre (Eiffel Trousers Records Cassette 1997) *Remember Orange Julius (Eiffel Trousers Records Cassette 1998) *Young and Abrasive (Split EP with 48 In The Basement ) (Eiffel Trousers Records CD 1998) *Precise Microwave Orphans Order : 17 of The Worst Live Performances (Eiffel Trousers Records Cassette 2000) *While You Were Out Being Straight Edge... (Eiffel Trousers Records CD 2001) *The Microwave Orphans Anthology (Eiffel Trousers Records CD 2002) Compilation Appearences : *"Happy Girl " appears on the compilation The Best Of The Best *"Brisket " appears on the compilation Only So Much Can Go Wrong *"Remember Orange Julius " appears on Stolen Goods *"Busted Amps and Broken Strings " appears on Victims Of The Modern Age: A Food Not Bombs Benefit (Drunk And Broke/Eiffel Trousers Records CD 1998) *"Dignified and Old/Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste " appears on If I Were A Richman : A Tribute To Jonathan Richman *"Just This Once " appears on Young Til I Die